same boat

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Home : 2003 : September : 9

same boat
By Kelly

I was in the same boat with a female principal for three years. It sounds like she picked up and moved to your school. First of all, I want to tell you to relax. I know that may sound impossible because of how tense she
seems to make everyone feel. Stick together as teachers and help each other. We used to send fake messages to let each other know if she was observing that day! (I know, how juvenile, right?) Be meticulous about your plans so she can't catch you on anything. Our principal used to do the same thing. She said I wasn't varying my enrichment and remediation strategies enough. Before

she got there, I was a good teacher and although I doubted myself during her tenure, I am still a good teacher. How do you measure that? Not by lesson plans. You measure the worth of a teacher by how much of themself they put into their lessons and how much of their heart they put into their students. I am sure that you are doing a wonderful job. Is this woman approachable at all? When I knew my principal was in a good mood (I swear she was Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde) I would go into her office and ask her something about a specific strategy she told me to try. I'd let her know that I was planning something special and invite her in. That way, I knew she'd stop by on one of her "good" days, of which there weren't many. When she did stop in and rip me apart, sometimes right in front of my students, I would just keep telling myself that she was totally unprofessional and that I would outlast her. I did! She only lasted three years before the stress of micromanaging hit her and she had to quit. I am starting my eleventh year. One more thing we did as a group. Instead of handling the more severe discipline problems which we always did just to avoid her, we bombarded her with them. She would spend some days locked in her office just dealing with kids and discipline problems. I know it wasn't very nice, but it did give us a day to relax in our classrooms. Hopefully your year will get better. Just stick together and keep telling yourselves that you will overcome!! You can do it! God bless you.
Cathy